History, Science, Uncategorized

Still Hanging Around

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More unfortunate news for England’s Richard III – a year after he suffered the indignity of having his bones excavated from underneath a parking lot, researchers have received the green light to map his genome.

This means Richard III’s genetic secrets will be laid bare, including any serious medical conditions he was predisposed towards. Scoliosis, anyone? That’s the prevailing reason to resist having one’s DNA decoded – to avoid potential discrimination based on the likelihood that you will develop an expensive malady down the road.

Fortunately for Richard III, he doesn’t have to worry about such things because Obamacare is now the law of the land, so he can’t be denied coverage based on a pre-existing condition! He is also protected by the fact that he’s not from around here, and is already disintegrating.

Yet Richard III is still alive as a cultural figure even though his reputation remains dark. It’s bad enough to have great artists (Shakespeare!) interpret your legacy. They don’t really care about you – just their form of expression. And now the great scientists will have a go at telling Richard III’s story their own way. These test-tube shakers and number crunchers have no reason to be kind either – it’s all a collection of data points to them. So you could say Richard has an endless literary shelf life and will soon gain a timeless scientific stature too, but immortality of any sort is wasted on the dead.

Would you rather live forever as a dramatic villain, or a museum exhibit?

30 thoughts on “Still Hanging Around”

  1. i hate to think that i may live on in infamy as a fate and that all the sins i have committed and the crabby moods i have been in would be the things that are focused on from here to eternity. there may be enough to write a book about there but why focus on the bad stuff, put me in a museum where a good case could be made for the ability to coexist on this earth with no more than the average tools provided to all other human beings on the planet. i get points of interest with the broken bone here and there shoulder foot hands etc but the real thing that will live on forever is the lack of thought about my existence here on earth during a time when some great things happened I was an observer at best. of the 7 billion people here now the best that can be said is that I am one of them. maybe after you are dead it doesn’t matter so much but I kind of wish while I was here I could make a bigger difference.

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    1. Perhaps it will be discovered that my brain is an unusual type and it will be put on display. I have often wonder about the nature of my brain and I have had various indication that it is abnormal. Maybe it should be put in a museum because it is extremely abnormal.

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  2. Good morning. My life has had some strange twist and turns. However, I doubt that have done anything or will do anything that would cause me to be remembered as a dramatic villain. That’s still time. I could change my ways. It’s hard for me to imagine what I could do to become a famous villain. Do you think I could get some pointers from Captain Billy and follow in his foot steps?

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  3. contemplating lifes true meaning and what will be my legacy
    i find myself aiming higher with the inspiration of possibility
    the places that differences can be made are everywhere
    and while they may not make the headlines they could make a difference.

    the story of the person throwing starfish back into the ocean
    and the observer noting that with the huge numbers scattered across the beach
    it couldnt possibly make a difference only to see the smile and the sparkle in the eye as the starfish sailed through the air on its way back to its saline universe. “it does to this one”

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  4. Judging strictly on the longevity of Shakespeare’s opus about Richard and the average length of time the larger museums around the globe have been around, I think I’d rather go with being a villain in a play. My infamy would live on for centuries. People would want to be me – if only for a few hours. Costumers and directors would re-interpret the nuances of what I say to determine how best to clothe and move me around my setting. Heck, I might even make it to Broadway finally. 🙂 Yep. Make me a villain in a play.

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  6. I have a couple of ideas…………. put my brain on display because the never-ending electrical discharges in its left temporal lobe might make an interesting light show. And/or show an image of me cutting Ted Nugent’s tongue (or another part) out.

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  7. High in the corner of an obscure exhibit of unidentified artifacts and faded tintypes in a usually-closed local museum fitted into an old railroad depot on the edge of a moderate-sized town somewhere in the Midwest will be a cobweb, just out of reach of the willing but not dedicated custodial staff. On that cobweb will collect some dust. That will be me.

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    2. i can see you up there.
      i heard once that all souls are like a book on a bookshelf and the recollection of the past lives is like someone opening the book a few pages at a time.
      i will think of you when i see cobwebs

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  10. Dastardly, Dramatic Villain. (I just can’t imagine how to end up in a museum.) I’d better get started, heh heh heh…

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